Wake surfing has emerged as a popular recreational sport. When wake surfing, a person is towed behind a boat or other watercraft with a rope until the person has positioned themselves within a wave behind the boat. Once the person reaches a desired position on a wave behind the boat, the tow rope is then released and typically tossed into the boat when the rope is no longer needed.
When the rope is thrown into the boat, the potential exists for a handle of the rope to strike passengers in the boat, thereby causing injury to passengers in the boat. Further, after a wake surfer falls, the handle must be returned to the wake surfer so that the wake surfer may be subsequently pulled behind the boat. Returning the rope typically requires throwing of the rope and handle towards the user in the water. This also greatly increases the likelihood of striking the wake surfer with the rope and handle and thereby also causing injury.
Maneuvering of the boat to retrieve a downed wake surfer also creates a risk of running over the rope or having the rope and handle become entangled in a prop of the boat. Retrieval of the surfer also requires the boat to pass in close proximity to the wake surfer given the typical short length of the rope for wake surfing.
What is needed, therefore, is an apparatus for managing a tow rope behind a boat to facilitate wakesurfing behind the boat.